Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Kitchen Journal and Red Quinoa


I freakin' love to cook! I love how fresh food looks! When I buy produce, or go to the farmers markets I always am so taken with the miracle of nature. Fresh, live foods that I get to eat, that I get to build my body with....from the inside out....wow! How lucky am I? How lucky are we?

I found this red quinoa at Whole Foods. Sometimes I just cruise the grain isle to see if find any beans or grains I haven't used before look interesting! Quinoa is flying off the shelves! Trader Joes runs out of it regularly, and even Whole Foods has a hard time keeping it stocked in the bulk section, so I expect the red version to be popular....I better stock up, lol! Mark loved the quinoa salad I made for my neices bridal shower, so I make it every week now, slightly different depending on what in my fridge.







Tuesday

Pork butt with chipolte and black beans in my pressure cooker.

This took me back to Fawns kitchen! (I stole it from her)

I have an early morning phone consult on Tuesdays and I take my walk, with my earplug, at the same time. Since I usually walk in my neighborhood, I'll walk 5 blocks down to the Mexican market and the things I buy there are pork butt, beef shanks, queso fresco cheese, jalapenos, sometimes garlic and onions. Of course I would prefer to buy meats that are organic and ideally pasture fed, but guess what...I lived for over 40 years eating nothing but grocery store meats and I didn't die, lol! Torturing myself with this "only organic" stuff can be crazy, besides until I write a blog post about so-called "free range" and organic chicken, it's not what you think anyway!

Wednesday

blanched purple cauliflower and 2 bunches of kale

Thursday

barley in PC
cooked hamburger patties


Friday

tomato soup w/fennel
kale mushroom quiche with feta cheese
red quinoa w/chicken stock (I mixed 1/4 c. regular quinoa w/1 c. red)
roasted 2 ears of corn
barley in PC
soak black beans

Saturday

blanched white and green string beans (CSA)
Made salad with red quinoa, baby greens, roasted corn, tomatoes, blanched white and green string beans, green onions, dressed with olive oil and lime, topped with queso fresco cheese.
(picture at top)
Shredded chipotle chicken with rice and beans ( next blog post)

I went to the Saratoga farmes market to specifically buy a pasture fed chicken ($5.50 lb), I didn't need much else, but I couldn't resist an organic Crenshaw melon. I purchased some yellow, and green onions, and that was it!

Sunday

ceasar salad
hamburger patties

Can you believe that at this moment, (Tues, 5:30am), I haven't had one fresh tomato in my house for 2 days! That will change later this morning, lol! I haven't needed much from the grocery or famers market, in fact I didn't shop the FM on Sunday at all, instead using most of what I already have.

6 comments:

neca said...

Your blog gives me such great food ideas - thanks for sharing!

I'm lucky in that my farmer's market has locally raised, organic chicken, pork, beef, eggs, and all sorts of dairy, in addition to produce. My family especially loves the pork & beef - the flavor difference is amazing!

Tori said...

I had the exact same quinoa last night with your roasted cauliflower and curry soup. Excellente!! You have such great recipes!

I started my Nutrition Therapy program at the Nutrition Therapy Institute here in Denver 2 weeks ago. I am really enjoying it. I have also been frequenting farmers' markets as well. I love it here!

JenG said...

I tried the quinoa...love it!! So did my husband. Thanks for the inspiration to finally try it. I can see using it for so many things!
Stuffed roasted tomatoes is next. ;)

Tracy Reifkind said...

neca,

I'm going grocery shopping at a market in Palo Alto today that sells local, organic, pasture fed meats....I can't wait!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Tori,

Mark is diggin' the quinoa salads, but I'm diggin' barley lately and I've been adding it to my soups regularly.

The red quinoa is pretty to look at!

Tracy Reifkind said...

jeng,

Fawn desreves the credit for the quinoa! She's the one that introduced it to me last year, and even though I knew about it for months, it took the second trip out to St. Paul in June, spending time with her in the kitchen that the "light bulb" went off, lol!